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1 



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Fo/i/uala.l . XIV. POLYGALE.E. 



141 



lengthening to an inch. Outer sepals veiy small and narrow ; inner sepals 

 ovate-felcate, acute or mucronate, 2 to 3 lines long-, herbaceous and glabrous 

 or slightly pubescent.' CoroUa about as long, the lateral petals rather large, 

 the crest of the keel fringed. Ovary glabrous. Style scarcely thickened, 

 with an almost petaloid uncinate-decurved stigma, glabrous and glaudulor 

 underneath. Capsule rather broad, glabrous or slightly pubescent, not 

 ^vinged. Seeds very hairy.— DC. Trod. i. 326. 



N. Australia, Upper Victoria river, F. Mueller ; Goulburn Island, A, Cunningham ; 

 N. coast, E. Brown. . y . 



Queensland. Endeavour river, E. Brow??., 



A very conimou East Indian weed, variable in fohagc and stature ; the following forms 

 appearing sometimes constant enough to he considered as distinct species:— 



\ ar. obovaia. liCaves all obovate, giving the plant the aspect of a young EujpJiorhia he- 

 hoscojna. Cavern Island, Carpentaria, R. Brotvn. 



ar. sqnarrosa. Leaves narrow. Flowers small and numerous, in oblong racemes, mostly 

 tommal, the inner sepals narrow and falcate. P. sqiiarrosa, Soland. ms. Endeavour river, 

 H^ Brown ; Upper Victoria river, F. Mueller, 



\ ar. sienosepala. Leaves narrow-linear. Racemes short and few-flowered, or flowers 

 a most solitary. Inner sepals narrow and less falcate. Capsule not above half as broad as 

 ong Victoria river, F. Mueller ; and nearly the same form, but with more flowers, Aru- 

 hem Bays, R, Brown. 



7. P. stenoclada, Benth, A slender, glabrous, erect annual, simple or 

 lutle branched. Leaves distant, very narrow-linear, almost terete, obtuse or 

 muiutely pointed, ^ to 1 in. long.' rcdiincles lateral, slender, elongated, 

 beanng towards the top a slender raceme of small blue flowers on veiy sliort 



pedicels. Outer sepals lanceolate, very acute M'ith scarions margins; inner 



N. Australia. Upper Victoria river, F. Mueller. 



A lie luflorescence is that of some specimens of the East Indian P. Wighiiana, but besides 

 the difference in foliage, the-flowers are mucli smaller aaJ narrower, and approach much 

 inore in structure the F, arveiis'is, from which F. devodada differs chiefly in inflorescence, 

 aud, m the above described spccinjcns, in its very narrow leaves. 



. ^^^'V)stenosepala. Rather taller and more branched. Leaves oblong or linear, fiat, J to 1 

 in. Jong. Flowers in a loose peduuculate raceme, much longer than the leaves, as in P. sfe- 

 ^oclada; but the inner sepals are narrow, pointed, and niucli falcate, as in the var. sleno- 

 sqmla of P. ari7^//j?/j.— Carpentaria Poiut and Arnhem Bays, R. Brown (IIL 72. Br.). 



3. COMESPERMA, LaLilL 



Sepals unequal, the 2 innermost, or wings, large and petal-like. Petals 3, 

 the keel not erestcJ, the two lateral ones separately attaehed to the staminal 

 ^^nniin, and either overlni)i)ed by the keel or outside it at the top. Stamens 

 8, united to above the middle in a sheath, open on the upper side and adnate 

 to the petals at the base. Ovaiy 2-celled. Style incurved, obliquely stig- 

 i^fitic and more or less 2-lobed at the top. Capsule coriaceous or almost 

 iTiembranous, usually cuneate and much narrowed at the base, rarely nearly 

 orbicular, opening loculieidally at the ed^es. Seeds ovate or oblong, pendu- 

 lous, pubescent or luiiiy, the liairs lengthening into a coma Avhenever the cap- 



